Sin City** (2005) 9.5, 7.5, 10, 27

         This film was one of the first I did in the old rewatching project and I still remember the first time I saw it, in Topeka, at the old Westridge 8. I think I was just barely 17 and I went to this one only mildly aware of what it would hold. I was mesmerized. I went to the last showing and when I got out the city was dead and my imagination wild. I almost couldn't go home because my nerves were aflame. I'll explain my rating in a different order, according to what I noticed first and what the films strengths are. I watched this film for the millionth time on 11 July, 2012, recorded from IFC, which left nothing out.
         The story of this film is really three stories. We begin with the retiring cop, Hartigan. On his last day, he is hunting down a serial child rapist/murderer who happens to be the son of a Senator. He's betrayed by his partner as he manages to save 11-year-old Nancy Callahan. We switch over to the story of Marv, an ex-con thug that is approached by a beautiful young woman who "gives him the night of his life." She is then murdered and he "kills his way to the truth." It is genuinely hard to paraphrase Sin City without quoting it. We then make our way to Dwight, who encounters a rough-neck and his posse of thugs on a drunken tear through the town and attempts to help avoid bloodshed, to no avail. We then end with Hartigan's further story of being framed for the child rapes/murders that he had been investigating and we see his attempt to finish the job he started.
         The most important part of this movie is the beauty of the images. Every frame is meticulously put together. This is due in part to the fact that it is one of the only films ever made entirely in front of a green screen. Many of the actors were heavily made-up, not least Mickey Rourke, who is unrecognizable as Marv. The use of black-and-white with the insertion of color from time to time for emphasis is eye-catching and really helps to sell the noir feel of a movie made in the 21st century. Everything from CGI to props to costume and make-up to set design is picture perfect. That is why it is one of very few films to receive a 10 for wonder. And on further inspection of current 10's given out, I am skeptical that they all deserved it in comparison with Sin City.
         I gave it a 9.5 for wit, which is up from 9 before this viewing. One might be confused by the noir atmosphere, obviously not the most original idea, but every word and every performance is new. Cliches are kept to a minimum and when they are used, they are given new life, often ironically. In fact, the lines that give me the most problem morally are often the most heart-wrenchingly perfect. I could quote the whole movie, maybe not as usefully as I could The Godfather, but I've lived a life far from violence.
         Some performances deserve special praise. Mickey Rourke was absolutely perfect from beginning to end. His acting is so physical and vocal, in part because his face is so obscured with the make-up job. He is forced to rely on his voice and his hands and legs to get his point across, but never looks dead in the face, which must have been hard.
         Bruce Willis restarted his career here as well. He proves as able to be the conflicted hero as ever. He delivers lines that would sound stale coming from nearly anyone's mouth with wit and something bordering on charm. He plays the kind-hearted and the brutally vicious with equal ease and they never seem like separate characters but all play as a cohesive whole.
         The late Brittany Murphy is witty and charming as well as seductive and frightening. She also surprised me with how well she makes a line like, "You're a fool, Dwight. You're a damn fool," sound. This is not cliche in her mouth and it is when I type it.
         Elijah Wood never says a word and steals scenes from Mickey Rourke. Also, I just noticed Nick Offerman from Parks and Recreation plays Shlubb, the companion of Klump, played by Rick Gomez, who together provide one of my favorite parts of the film, the low-life thugs who speak Shakespearean English. Rosario Dawson and Benicio del Toro also light up the screen as the prostitute queen and aforementioned rough-neck.
         Here we come to the crux of the matter, wisdom. This film has some wonderful things to say and some seriously un-Christian ideas of revenge. I'll begin with its high points, which too many people will fail to notice. Hartigan is a cop who employs tactics both before and after losing his badge that are questionable, but his conviction to sacrifice his own life that a young girl might live is beautiful. Both he and Marv resist giving false confessions despite brutal beatings, a thing in my mind akin to a martyr refusing to slander Christ. The Torah holds as extremely sacred all judicial process and especially witness testimony. Hartigan shows a great deal of compassion to his wife who remarries while he is inside, wishing her well. Marv is rough and tumble, violent to the point of routinely torturing people, but he has a passion for the truth and justice for the one who showed him kindness. We might bristle when he retorts that a women "Worth killing for and worth going to Hell for," but the sentiment that the truth is worth dying for cannot be lauded enough. Dwight's desire to avoid bloodshed is admirable and his sense of Old Testament justice may be out of place in a post-Christ world, but it is biblical. In fact, killing someone who murdered your family was seen as a right in the Torah. I don't know if that justifies its inclusion here, but it's a start. If this were all, I'd have a hard time denying it a 9.5, but there is more.
         Sex is portrayed too vividly for my taste, as a thing best hinted at. The attitude that prostitution would be better if it could get rid of the violence of pimps and organized crime is nearly disgusting. There is a great deal of unholy joy in killing, to the point that one prostitute is described as "The Valkyrie at my side...shouting and laughing with the pure, hateful, bloodthirsty joy of the slaughter." There is quite a bit to find ugly and violent and crude. My dad would suggest I "not go searching for gold in the trash dump," but I think there is something nearly essential or at least unique in this portrayal of men standing out against oppression and violence against the innocent, or comparatively so, against corrupt power in all its forms. One of the villains, if you will, of the piece says, "Power don't come from a badge or a gun. Power comes from lying. Lying big, and gettin' the whole damn world to play along with you. Once you got everybody agreeing with what they know in their hearts ain't true, you've got 'em by the balls." Compare that with this life-affirming scene:

Lucille: Prison was hell for you Marv, it's gonna be life this time. Marv: Hell's waking up every goddamn day and not even knowing why you're here. But I'm out now. It took someone who was kind to me getting killed to do it. But I'm out. And I know exactly what I'm gonna do. 

I think these solidify for me a moral sense in this piece that is lacking entirely in more "family friendly" films. I would rather see a more compass a few degrees off than no moral compass at all.
         Well that is my review. I intend my next watch to be an indie comedy from 2010 called Tiny Furniture. If that doesn't inspire another review from me I'll probably proceed to the 1925 Charlie Chaplin film Gold Rush, but I'll try to keep you posted.